Technology developed at Dartmouth’s Thayer School of Engineering is about to revolutionize the $1 billion icemaker business. The invention is called pulse electro-thermal de-icing (PETD).

PETD inventor, Victor Petrenko, professor of engineering at Dartmouth states: “In fact, we can safely say that this technology can increase an icemaker’s production capacity by 70 percent while decreasing its energy consumption by up to 30 percent.”

Petrenko’s invention could ultimately transform the entire $40 billion refrigeration-air conditioning industry which, according to Petrenko, has struggled with the challenge of keeping cold evaporator coils free of frost and ice. Dartmouth’s PETD technology has proven its ability to de-ice these coils in seconds using a fraction of the energy required by conventional coil defrosters.

“In addition to this,” says Petrenko, “there are many other equally exciting applications for PETD in the works, such as for de-icing buildings and bridges, car windshields, airplanes, windmills and ships, and power lines.”